Finance Minister P Chidambaram''s loan waiver package to the extent of Rs.60,000/- crore in the union budget failed to put an end to the miseries of the farming community. The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, which has been witnessing huge number of farm suicides during last couple of years, the package failed to create confidence among farmers.

After Chidambaram's package announcement, as many of 77 farmers committed suicide in this region till March 29. Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samithi (VJAS) president Kishor Tiwari said that they were shocked due sudden rise in farm suicides in fact prevailing distress among the million of vidarbha cotton farmers is known to administration too. Daily about six farm suicides are reporting, he added.

He said they have been demanding minimum food security and health care and rural employment or direct subsidy to dying farmers in order to stop these on going farm suicides but nobody is ready even look at our demands,

VJAS has asked Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to have integrated formula to tackle Vidarbha agrarian distress which is like wise It pleas include:

1-Resotretion of cotton advance bonus that price of Rs.2700/- per quintal as promised by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the time of Maharashtra assembly election 2004 as congress-Ncp govt. stopped advance bonus and brought down cotton price from rs.2500/- per quintal to rs.18oo per quintal in year 05-06 and 06-07.

2-Providing fresh credit from institutional bank to all debt trapped farmers mostly from private money lenders and to provide 5 year credit cycle as asked by NCF.

3-Provide food crop promotion incentive to Vidarbha cotton farmers.

4-Complete ban on chemical advance genetic farming methods as it's failed to give feasible and profitable cash crop pattern moreover it's high cost high risk has increased distress in vidarbha farmers resulting much more farm suicide prior to GM cotton seed commercial trials permission that before year 2005 in vidarbha.

5-There is no concrete investment plan both from Indian and Maharashtra govt. To provide value addition to cotton crop at local level ,more option for secondary support system revival, not a single plan of agro processing network .

6-There is no paln to have direct protection from market forces to the cash crop cultivating farmers on cost stabilization front.

7-No plan to set up the regulator to control cost and quality of input and exploitation from forward trading in commodity market.

8-There is no relief is given as per food security and health care and educational fees help to ward of distressed farmers, direct govt. employment to one person from distressed farming family.

Tiwari said that they have been demanding these basic demands since June 2005, but failed to get single relief resulting more than 5,000 farm suicides. Every time relief packages are given but beneficiaries are all the time other than Vidarbha dying farmers.

They moved High Court, Human Rights Commission, President of India, World Bank, United Nations and top politicians and officials in the country. But failed to save dying Vidarbha farmers. Now all farm activists in Vidarbha region are in deep distress and openly admitting their failure to save innocent victimisation of cotton farmer and mass genocide resulted due to free trade and heavy subsidies given by US government to American cotton farmers, Tiwari added.

After big loan waiver of Indian govt. failed to provide any debt relief to more than 90% Vidarbha cotton farmers due it's upper cap to 2 hector and cut off date being 30th march, 2007 as it was expected that next being election year Maharashtra govt. would restore cotton price or announce the Rs.2000 per hector subsidy to cotton farmers.

However, Maharashtra finance minister Jayant Patil failed to address this long pending important issue. Kishor Tiwaris said that amount shown for irrigation project is part of Vidarbha backlog and included in the AIBP, which can not be treated as relief.

According to Tiwari, the Vidarbha region has witnessed the more than 20,000 of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the last ten years of Congress-NCP govt.

However, he said the issue of farm suicides is not being addressed due apathy of political parties and negative attitude of babus in the administration as even though state has shown the surpluses of Rs.400 crore in state budget but failed to relief aid such as food security, health care, food crop incentives free education to ward of distressed cotton farmers in order to stop on going farm suicides in region.

Maharashtra govt has not taken any budgetary step to help debt trapped Vidarbha cotton farmers as "Close to 60 percent farmers in Vidarbha have a landholding of more than two hectares and most of them are in distress on the Maharashtra government's own admission and all such farmers in the region, which has witnessed a large number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, would be deprived of the benefit announced by central govt " he added.

Pointing out the absence of provisions for increasing farmers' income, price stabilization and incentives for low-cost farming that would have signaled a beginning of the quest for a durable solution to the agrarian crisis, Tiwari also questioned Maharashtra govt,s silence over food security and rural health.

Earlier the annual budget presented by Chidambaram has a farm loan waiver provision of Rs.600 billion intended to extend the benefit to 40 million farmers across the country. The one-time settlement would cover marginal and small farmers whose loans were rescheduled last year. kishor Tiwari's also demanded that a loan waiver up to Rs 50,000 rather than up to two-hectare land holding would have been more appropriate.

"The two-hectare cap would mostly benefit the sugarcane and grape cultivators in western and southern Maharashtra who have smaller land holdings but large-income- yielding agriculture because of the irrigation facility available there," Tiwari added.

Kishor tiwari urged the UPA Government to restore advance bonus and give Rs.2700/- per quintal price as promised in the UPA manifesto."

Tiwari said most of the political parties are shedding crocodile's tears over the insult of cotton farmer but they are not talking about finding solution to redress the hardships of the Vidarbha farmers. Presently most of the farmers who are committing suicides are victims of poverty and hunger that has resulted after the economic collapse in the Vidarbha region due ongoing agrarian crisis.

"We demand urgent step to provide food security and health care facilities to these dying farmers before making arguments over farm suicides being agrarian or non-agrarian. Now the time has come to give complete loan waiver and price protection on all agriculture produce from free trade in WTO era to Vidarbha dying farmers", Tiwari added.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

14 farmer suicides in 3 days in Vidarbha

IANS

GOOD INTENTIONS: Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced the loan waiver on February 29.

Nagpur: A farmer with five children has ended his life near here, taking to 61 the farmer suicide toll in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region after Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's "historic loan waiver budget" of February 29.

Shrikrishna Kalamb, a 48-year-old farmer from Babhulgaon in Akola district, about 250 km from Nagpur, is among 14 farmers in Vidarbha who committed suicide in the past three days and 124th in the last three months.

Father of five daughters, two of whom are in the marriageable age bracket, Kalamb had a little over five acres un-irrigated land left with him after he sold small bits from time to time to meet contingencies.

A Rs 37,000 loan from a farmer's cooperative society did not qualify for waiver because of the two-hectare (five acres) ceiling stipulated in the central government's loan waiver proposal. Family sources however said Kalamb was more worried about a loan he had taken from an acquaintance.

In the suicide note he left behind Monday, Kalamb compared his sudden decision to die with last week's un-seasonal rains that inflicted huge damage on crops in Vidarbha and described his act of suicide as an offering to god like "kanhola" - a rice flour puri hung before god amidst a floral arrangement.

Sudhakar Pote of Selu-Murpad in Wardha district, who too committed suicide by hanging himself Monday morning, owned 16 acres and was not eligible for the loan waiver.

Two others, Vijay Akre of Jamtha and Shankar Tayde of Hingna-Balapur (two villages in Akola district) ended their lives a day earlier though they owned respectively four and two-and-a-half acre agricultural land and were eligible for the relief.

Ten more farmer suicides were reported from different parts of Vidarbha Sunday and Monday.

While United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's promise to take up the issue of raising the two-hectare loan waiver ceiling for un-irrigated regions has soothed the frayed tempers in suicide prone Vidarbha, the absence of sops to cotton growers in the state budget has dismayed people.

"There is not a word in state Finance Minister Jayant Patil's budget about the guarantee price of Rs.2,700 to cotton which Sonia Gandhi and both the constituents of the ruling Democratic Front (Congress and NCP) had promised in their 2004 election manifesto," said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti president Kishor Tiwari.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

After Central Govt. now Maharashtra Govt. Budget too failed to address vidarbha agrarian crisis :No relief for food security and health care to Distressed Dying cotton farmers.Nagpur-19th march 2008Today Maharashtra govt. too failed to give any relief to vidarbha cotton farmers after big loan waiver of Indian govt. failed to provide any debt relief to more than 90% vidarbha cotton farmers due it's upper cap to 2 hector and cut off date being 30th march,2007 as it was expected that next being election year maharashtra govt. would restore cotton price or announce the rs.2000 per hector subsidy to cotton farmers but finance minister Maharashtra Jayant Patil failed to address this long pending important issue ,kishor tiwari president of vidarbha jan andolan samiti informed in a press release.the amount shown for irrigation project is part of vidarbha backlog and included in the AIBP hence this is not the relief asked by the cotton farmers.tiwari said.The vidarbha region has witnessed the more than 20000 r of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the last ten years of congress-ncp govt. but issue farm suicides is not being addressed due apathy of political parties and negative attitude of babus in the administration as even though state has shown the surplase of rs.400 crore in state budget but failed to relief aid such as food security,health care,food crop incentives free education to ward of distressed cotton farmers in order to stop on going farm suicides in region ,kishore tiwari added. . Maharashtra govt has not taken any budtory step to help debt trapped vidarbha cotton farmers as "Close to 60 percent farmers in Vidarbha have a landholding of more than two hectares and most of them are in distress on the Maharashtra government's own admission and all such farmers in the region, which has witnessed a large number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, would be deprived of the benefit announced by central govt "tiwari told..Pointing out the absence of provisions for increasing farmers' income, price stabilization and incentives for low-cost farming that would have signalled a beginning of the quest for a durable solution to the agrarian crisis, Tiwari also questioned Maharashtra govt,s silence over food security and rural health.Earlier the annual budget presented by Chidambaram has a farm loan waiver provision of Rs.600 billion intended to extend the benefit to 40 million farmers across the country. The one-time settlement would cover marginal and small farmers whose loans were rescheduled last year. kishor Tiwari's also demanded that a loan waiver up to Rs 50,000 rather than up to two-hectare land holding would have been more appropriate."The two-hectare cap would mostly benefit the sugarcane and grape cultivators in western and southern Maharashtra who have smaller land holdings but large-income-yielding agriculture because of the irrigation facility available there," tiwari added.Kishor tiwari urged UPA Government to restore advance bonus and give rs.2700/- per quintal price as promised in the UPA manifesto. ".Tiwari said most of the political parties are shedding crocodiles tears over the insult of cotton farmer but they are not talking about finding solution to redress the hardships of the Vidarbha farmers. Presently most of the farmers who are committing suicides are victims of poverty and hunger that has resulted after the economic collapse in the Vidarbha region due ongoing agrarian crisis."We demand urgent step to provide food security and health care facilities to these dying farmers before making arguments over farm suicides being agrarian or non-agrarian. Now the time has come to give complete loan waiver and price protection on all agriculture produce from free trade in WTO era to Vidarbha dying farmers", Tiwari added.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please arrange to release this press noteThanking you,Yours faithfully,For VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITIKISHORE TIWARIPRESIDENTkishortiwari@gmail.comcontact-09422108846

When the additional district collector and collector in-charge of Yavatmal Anil E Bansod explains that the farmer suicides in Vidarbha are not because of farm loans but possibly because they are suffering from syphilis and gonorrhoea ― both sexually transmitted disease ― the whole theory of agrarian crisis goes for a toss. For the record, Yavatmal district in Vidarbha registered 1,248 suicides in 2007. But this is not the last chapter of Freakonomics that's been applied to this region. This is the beginning...

Some 70 km away in the district of Wardha, BJP general secretary Prashant Tigavnkar ― hopeful of an Assembly ticket this time ― chuckles how he "handed out" a wonderful story to a television channel about farmer suicides and how he and his party could turn things around in a matter of weeks. After all, the BJP-Sena coalition has a majority of elected members in the region.

And then in a remote village, Pandharkawda, sits Kishore Tiwari, president, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, who has diligently made entries of the farmers who've committed suicide since 2001. Tiwari, rattles off statistics and abuses in the same tone, as he lectures a foreign documentary-maker about why bureaucrats and politicians have hidden motives behind not helping farmers. Keep that and Tiwari's modesty aside and it will be not hard to miss a big poster, which adorns his office, showing that he was awarded the most recognised activist in India, 2005, by a news channel.

So is the real farmer's voice lost in the maze of bureaucrats-politicians-activists' double-speak, vote bank politics and perhaps, overzealous approach? Or it gets silenced with them ― with traces on hanging ropesor pesticides which are used to commit suicide. There is no definitive answer. Not with the government at least, because the big Rs 60,000-crore package that it has announced from the hallowed halls of Parliament has not raised hopes ― not in Vidarbha, where around 45 farmers have committed suicide since February 29.

FIVE-ACRE PASS?Today, in any village of Vidarbha, this is the first question that you'll have to answer, if the topic of farm loans is raised. The farmers are unsure whether the government would finally relent and increase the size of land holdings to get a full waiver. Perhaps, Kishan Vithal Rao Rahate of Pimpalkhute village didn't see any hope of this happening. He committed suicide just four days after the Budget announcement. "His hopes were dashed. He had 8 acres of land.

His total loan was Rs 45,000. He had no other means. We all have no means...," says his neighbour, Vasant Rao Sonbaji Pal. Rahate left behind an old, ailing mother, wife and two children. The family now plans to survive by working on other farmers' fields. Pal is unfazed by the extreme step that Rahate took. "I would have done the same if my son was not working in a torch factory. We've other income source. But Rahate has created a problem for us. Now no money lender will give loan to us. They never do once a farmer commits suicide in a village," says a dismayed Pal.

Vicious circle couldn't have got more complex. And this is not the story of one village. In the whole of Vidarbha, you'll find such cases in every village and the same distraught farmers.

A few kilometres away in Metikhera, it's a similar story. Last year, two farmers committed suicide in this village. This time, the collector in-charge of Yavatmal, Bansod gets his facts right. "Though 50% of the farmers in Vidarbha region may fall under the category of possessing 2 hectares land, technically, they may not get the full waiver because 2 hectares is 5 acres and 2 quintas. People are unsure and sometimes they lose all hope," he says.

As per statistics, 38,073 farmers in Yavatmal have land holdings up to 2 hectares but if you count those who have less than 2 hectares, it's 1,737. "This is true for whole of Vidarbha. We'll find it difficult to explain it to voters. We've asked our leaders. Soon the waiver will be announced for all farmers who've land holdings up to 15 acres," says Kalavati Sudhir Wakodkar, Zila Parishad head, Wardha. She believes her party head, Sonia Gandhi, will understand their plea.

However, unlike Wakodkar, the farmers of Kalam village are not hopeful. "This is a political move to divide farmers. The package is good for western Maharashtra. The farmers there have small land holdings," says Sunil Davde. He holds 45 acres land.

DE-COUPLING THEORY

The cattle market in Selu has seen an increase in the price of ox this year. The best breed can cost you more than Rs 1 lakh and on an average, a pair will come for around Rs 30,000. The reason behind the jump in prices is that the crop of soyabean has been good and it's fetching double of what it did two years ago. "In an acre, you get around 12 quintals of soyabean. The rate is up to Rs 2,000 per quintal. A profit of Rs 4,000. I hope this remains the same next year as well," says Praful Ganesh Rao Mahabole of Selu Village.

But this hope is the root cause of problem. Or so, feels Vijay Jawandhia, founder-member Sheatkari Sangathan (farmers' association.) "You know why soyabean is fetching a good price? This year, the US has given subsidy to corn farmers. In Australia, there has been a drought. Who knows it will be so next year as well. And if that doesn't happen, Kishore Tiwari's register will only swell," he says.

J L Salway, chairman, Wardha District Land Development Bank, is more critical. "What good will this loan waiver do in the long run? What we need is a price stabilisation fund. There should be an effort to see that farmers also grow staple crops. Commercialisation of agriculture wouldn't take us anywhere. Loans are an interim measure," he adds.

BANKING WOESIn Pandharkawda, the Maharashtra Bank and the State Bank of India in 2008 have disbursed around Rs 7 crore as farm loans. But an official of Maharashtra Bank is worried. The farm loan waiver may do good to farmers but for him, it has created a new set of worries. "Already there is so much pressure to disburse loans to farmers who are close to politicians, activists and bureaucrats. Now this waiver. I've received no information from the head office and already farmers are saying they won't pay. I'm at the receiving end from both sides. Soon you'll see bank officials committing suicide," he says. The SBI official promises that he won't dare to go to a village till next year.

Sayed Apijuddin, who owns 2 acres in Ghataji, is also worried. "I paid all my loans on time. I maintained a good credit history. And now this waiver. I feel cheated. If others don't repay loans, will banks give us loan anymore," he questions.

In Sonkhas Village, Shamrao Balkrishnan Sathe doesn't want to go to the moneylender but he accepts that he has taken a Rs 20,000 loan from one. "You just can't do without it. They charge higher interest rate but that's any-time money. May be I would sell my land to pay. I've heard that since a cargo hub is coming in Nagpur, people are buying land at a higher rate," he says.

That's perhaps why Abdur Rehman, superintendent of police, Yavatmal, hasn't been able to put any moneylender behind the bars. "They are local farmers. And most of the times there is no written agreement. Also, farmers generally don't complain of any atrocities," he says. As per records, till January 31 this year, there were around 385 complaints, 297 enquiries and 15 FIRs, and 71 cases were filed in courts. "We feel helpless. There needs to be a social overhaul. Effective policing comes later," says Rehman.

LIFE GOES ON..."I don't think suicide is the last resort. What will happen to those who have small kids," asks 13-year old Sneha Nagrale, a student of Yardy English School. This is the only English-medium school you'll find between Wardha and Yavatmal.

Raveena Tekan of the same class is also aware of the suicides and feel government should do something. "The Prime Minister was to come to a village near ours. We all planned to meet him. We would've told him if he would have come," she says. The Prime Minister, however, cancelled his visit at the last moment.

If the children in this English-medium school think of meeting the Prime Minister and proving their point, Sudha Rao Bhimrao Holkar is also on the same track. Her father committed suicide last

He's best known as the father of the Green Revolution in India. More recently, Professor M S Swaminathan , MP, chaired the National Commission for Farmers and has provided a lot of valuable inputs to the government on the debt burden on poor farmers. He shared his views on the loan waiver scheme with ET . Excerpts:

Do you think that the loan waiver scheme for farmers announced in the Budget will come as a major relief?

This is a very good beginning. In fact, I'm not worried about where the Rs 60,000 crore is coming from since I'm sure that the Prime Minister and the finance minister would not have announced the scheme before looking into the details. For me, the problem faced by the farmers is an accumulated one and now a serious attempt is being made to solve it. The National Farmers Commission had also recommended a loan waiver in 2005. The steps announced in the Budget are likely to bring relief to about four crore farmers who will be freed of the debt burden by June 2008 and will become eligible again for loans.

How can the farmers be prevented from getting into a debt trap again?

That is the next challenge. For the loan waivers to be fully effective, the farmers will have to be prevented from getting back into a debt trap when they again become eligible to go back for institutional financing. The source of funds for the farmers is very important and they should be able to go to scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and co-operative credit institutions for loans rather than become indebted to moneylenders and traders.

Why are the farmers in regions such as Vidarbha more vulnerable than others?

When defining marginal farmers, the agro-climatic region has to be kept in mind. There has to be differentiation between well irrigated and dry farming areas. Farmers in rain-fed, dry areas such as Vidarbha and parts of Andhra Pradesh may own several hectares of land but their farm produce depends on the vagaries of the monsoon. However, in an area as dry as Rajasthan, farmers have multiple livelihoods and are not that dependent on the rains. It is therefore important to get the classification right. Ultimately, multiple livelihood opportunities alone can insulate farmers in rainfed areas from the debt trap.

What should the government's next step be towards helping indebted farmers?

The Central and state governments, with the help of the agricultural universities, should set up a technical support consortium to support indebted farmers. The banks, FIs, input suppliers and private sector should also be roped in.

The next step will be to help farmers bridge the gap between actual yield and the potential of their land with the help of technologies available on the shelf. A package that combines use of technology, friendly government policy and availability of services will help the farmers increase productivity. Besides, the farmers who benefit from the loan waiver scheme should now be able to reap benefits of other schemes such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Security Mission, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, National Horticulture Mission, Rural Godown and Warehousing Schemes and the National Rural Health Mission.

You have often prescribed food security for India. Will the loan waiver scheme help in achieving that goal?

It will be very foolhardy and suicidal for a country like India to forgo food security. With the loan waiver, farmers who are relieved of the debt burden will be able to produce at least an additional half tonne per hectare of foodgrain or other farm produce. This should help increase food production by about 20 mt during 2008-10. In the face of dwindling foodstocks and rising prices, the additional output will boost the food security system in our country.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Farm bonanza fails to save India's dying farmers

Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:03pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSDEL274459

By Krittivas Mukherjee

PIMPARKHUTI, India, March 14 (Reuters) - Just before India's finance minister was announcing a massive farm bonanza last month, Narendra Totaram Chauhan quietly slipped into his cotton fields, opened a bottle of pesticide and drank it.

By the time the minister finished announcing a $15 billion loan waiver to give a new lease of life to millions of indebted farmers, the poison had snuffed the life out of Chauhan.

Over the next few days, while experts debated the efficacy of the staggering relief package, 60 farmers killed themselves, adding to a morbid official statistic: more than 150,000 Indian farmers committed suicide since 1997 unable to repay crop loans.

Though the crisis has been building for years, it presents a grave challenge for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of national polls next year. Farm distress and soaring prices helped turf out the previous government in 2004 and put Singh in power.

So, Singh's government came up with a plan in the 2008-09 budget: cancel debts of small farmers with loans overdue on Dec. 31, 2007, and which remained unpaid up to Feb. 29.

The write-off came with riders. Beneficiaries can own up to two hectares (five acres) and only bank loans will be cancelled.

This has meant nearly a quarter of 40 million targeted farmers will not benefit because most borrowed from rapacious moneylenders or they own larger tracts of land.

"It's a lose-lose proposition. This will not relieve farmers' distress," said Kishor Tiwari, who leads a campaign against farmers' suicides across the arid plateaus of central India.

A map of the region, known as Vidarbha, hangs on Tiwari's office wall. Its most prominent markings are a profusion of black skulls, forming a grim diagram of death.

Here, across the black cotton-bearing soil of Vidarbha, far from the gleaming malls that symbolise India's economic boom, three million desperately poor farmers are fighting for survival.

SUICIDE EPICENTRE

More than 30,000 farmers have killed themselves in the region alone since 1997, making it the epicentre of India's grimmest agrarian crisis in recent memory.

But relief is still a distant dream for a majority of farmers here because their average holding is just above two hectares. And small and marginal farmers will not benefit because most of them borrowed from moneylenders and relatives.

Its the same story in the northern Punjab state, considered India's food bowl where rising cultivation costs are distressing farmers and leading many to commit suicide or to abandon farming.

As in Vidarbha, the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, which have reported thousands of farmers' suicides, have dry croplands where large holdings are unviable for a farmer with limited access to irrigation and loans.

The National Sample Survey Organisation says almost half of India's 100 million farming families are in debt.

India's stunning urban-centric economic growth has bypassed the farm sector where growth is estimated to have slowed to 2.6 percent in the year ending March 2008, from 3.8 percent the year before.

Even though farming supports 60 percent of India's 1.1 billion people, it contributes only a fifth of gross domestic product and accounts for only around 15 percent of bank credit.

Economic liberalisation since 1991 has not helped either, with duties being gradually phased out and farmers facing tough competition from heavily subsidised European or American growers.

In the past, farmers used to sell to the government at a price fixed in advance, but that safety net was removed for cotton growers in 2005, leaving them at the mercy of middlemen who often browbeat them into unprofitable sales.DEBT CYCLE

Bad weather and falling prices only compound debts.

Farmers are often underfinanced by banks, forcing them to turn to private lenders whose usurious interest rates bind them to a never-ending cycle of debt. Many also borrow unwisely to fund lavish spending or to pay for weddings.

Unable to get credit, Kisan Vithalrao Rahate used a plastic rope to hang himself from a tree at the threshold of his mud house in this Vidarbha village this month.

Rahate lost two batches of seed to a bad monsoon. Last year the crop was good, but still not good enough to pay off his debts and then subsist with his family of six until the next harvest.

"We fought over money but he never threatened to kill himself," Kunda Kisanrao, his widow, told Reuters, squatting on a mud courtyard fenced with twigs and thorny shrubs.

Rahate carried two debts at the time of his death: a $350 bank loan and $1,250 borrowed privately to buy expensive genetically modified seeds and fertilisers to stay competitive.

A 2006 study by the Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, found that 86.5 percent of farmers who took their own lives were indebted -- their average debt was about $835 -- and 40 percent had suffered a crop failure.

But Prime Minister Singh is defending his scheme.

"It will allow the fresh flow of institutional credit to farmers, it will clean up bankers' balance sheets, it will stimulate economic activity in rural areas, and I don't make any apologies on this," he told the parliament this month.

The scheme will benefit farmers in the states of West Bengal in the east and Kerala in the south where sweeping land reforms left farmers with smaller holdings.

Agricultural scientists say state support for agriculture is imperative, calling for help with soil and water management, timely credit and subsidised seeds and fertilisers.

"In the name of liberalisation state support was withdrawn completely and the vacant space has been occupied by the private sector in an unregulated manner," said K. Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development studies.

In Pimparkhuti village, Rahate's wife cares little for the hair-splitting debates. For her, it's a struggle to survive with her two daughters and a 2-year-old son.

"My mind is blank, I don't know what to do," she said, staring at the tree her husband hanged himself from.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

DIONNE BUNSHA In Vidarbha, many farmers will not benefit from the waiver because they possess over two hectares of land. Above, Durpata Bhalerao Ataram, whose husband committed suicide in 2007.

DURPATA BHALERAO ATARAM’S land is no longer an asset. It seems like a burden. She has 10 acres of it, but no money to grow a crop.

“I’m fed up. After investing so much money and effort on the land, we barely get enough to eat. Next year, I am going to lease it out and work as a farm labourer,” says Durpata, a widow from Burgavan village in Yavatmal district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Durpata’s husband killed himself last year. Now, her two young sons help her with the farm.

“There was no rain when he sowed the crop the first time, so he had to sow twice. The expenses were high. The tension was too much for him. He had borrowed Rs.40,000 from the moneylender to get our daughter married, and Rs.50,000 from the bank for the farm,” says Durpata. She is not going to benefit from the farm-loan waiver announced as part of the Union Budget. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced that four crore farmers would have their loans worth Rs.60,000 crore waived.

The waiver is only for farmers who own less than two hectares of land. Many widows and poor farmers such as Durpata have been excluded from the waiver in Vidarbha, which has the highest rate of farmers’ suicides in the country. On the day Chidambaram made the announcement, 10 farmers in Vidarbha committed suicide. In this largely cotton-growing region, 1,242 cases of suicide were reported last year – that is, three every day.

“Only around 35 per cent of the farmers here have land below two hectares. Of them, we don’t yet know the number that will be eligible for loan waiver. Very few farmers in Vidarbha will actually benefit,” says P.B. Ghatode, Assistant Manager at Central Bank of India, Mohada, in Yavatmal, which has given loans to 1,500 farmers in 26 villages.

Undivided landholdings

“Mostly, the big landholders will benefit. They have already divided their landholdings amongst the brothers. The poorer farmers have not. Our seven or 10 acres may seem bigger on paper. But actually it is divided between many sons,” said Mangalabai Prabhakar Mokhadkar, whose husband committed suicide in 1998.

“You cannot treat the farmers with irrigated land in Punjab or western Maharashtra on a par with the dryland peasants of Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha. In western Maharashtra, the landholdings are much smaller, but they get more than two crops because they have irrigation, and they also get bigger loans,” says Kishor Tiwari, leader of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which has been campaigning for farmers in the region. The crop loan for sugarcane is Rs.15,000 an acre and for grapes it is Rs.80,000 an acre as compared to Rs.4,000-5,000 for cotton. “[Union] Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s stronghold in prosperous western Maharashtra will benefit, not the farmers in Vidarbha who are in a crisis,” says Tiwari.

Vidarbha and Marathwada are the poorest regions of Maharashtra. Since the black soil of Vidarbha is perfect for cotton cultivation, the region prospered during British rule and until the 1970s because of the textile mills. The orange orchards of Nagpur also helped. But Vidarbha’s fortunes declined when the textile industry collapsed. The government did not invest in rural infrastructure such as irrigation to fill in this gap.

The Maratha lobby that rules the State gave priority to its constituencies in western Maharashtra (considered “drought-prone”), and used State money to build their fiefdoms as sugar barons. Ironically, the water-intensive sugarcane crop is now grown in a drought-prone area. Profits for the sugar barons, rather than sustainable agriculture were the driving force. Over decades, the regional disparities have only grown wider, and Vidarbha is now India’s suicide zone while western Maharashtra is kept alive with huge doses of subsidies.

Dorli village in Wardha district was one of the first to announce that the village was up for sale, as a form of protest against the farm crisis that has reduced most farmers to penury. “Here, only 13 out of 40 farmers have less than two hectares, and of these, we don’t know how many have defaulted on loans before the cut-off date of March 31, 2007. The number will be even lower,” says Vijay Jawandhia, president of the Kisan Coordination Committee, a coalition of farmers’ organisations across the country.

In Adivasi villages of Yavatmal, several farmers have more than two hectares of land but live in dire poverty, paying interest to moneylenders from Andhra Pradesh at 50 per cent per annum.

‘Modify waiver conditions’

“Instead of using land area as a cut-off point, we recommend that the government waive loans up to Rs.50,000 for all farmers, so that those who are really in need will get some relief,” says Jawandhia. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh agreed with this suggestion at a public meeting in his constituency of Latur in Marathwada. Union Minister for Panchayat Raj, Youth Welfare and Sports, Mani Shankar Aiyar, also visited Vidarbha. Farmers hope that he will convince the government to modify the loan waiver conditions after seeing the ground realities.

There are 18 lakh farm households in the six crisis-affected districts of Vidarbha. The average landholding here is 7.5 acres. The State government has been publishing huge advertisements in the newspapers claiming that 33 lakh farmers will receive loan waivers worth Rs.9,310 crore. However, it is uncertain how much of that pie will come to Vidarbha.

Seventy-two-year-old Ramdas Udhav Kera, a small Adivasi farmer from Vadki village in Yavatmal, has three acres of land. He will not get a loan waiver. Ramdas borrowed Rs.10,000 from big landowners to pay off his bank loan in time, so that he would not be listed as a defaulter. Then, he took a fresh bank loan of Rs.30,000 during the sowing season in June 2007. That loan will not be written off, as it was taken after the cut-off date.

“I made a loss of Rs.5,000. There’s no money to eat. Who will give work to an old man? Now even the sahukars (moneylenders) have stopped lending,” says Ramdas. “Those who are regular and honest are being punished and those who didn’t pay in time are being rewarded.”

Soon after announcing the loan waiver, Pawar and State Home Minister R.R. Patil urged people not to pay back moneylenders. Patil went as far as to say that moneylenders should be “skinned alive”. A few years ago, Patil had launched a campaign against moneylenders during which several of them were arrested and some were attacked in villages. Since then moneylenders have become cagey. “The bank loan is not enough to cover all farm costs. So people have no choice but to go to the moneylender,” says Ramdas. The loan waiver is a political stunt aimed at the upcoming elections. Unless the real problems with the agricultural policy are tackled, farmers will be unable to pay back their new loans.

Unsustainable farming

With prices remaining low and the costs mounting, farming is no longer sustainable. “Just give us a fair price for our harvest and we won’t need any relief or loan waivers from the government,” says Mansoor Khorasi, a small farmer from Mohada. “Since 1990, the input cost has risen by 300 per cent but the price of cotton has remained the same. What else can you expect but bankruptcy? A loan waiver is just a dose of oxygen. To make us stand, they should give us a proper price, irrigation and other facilities such as health and education.”

“Every year it’s the same story. After we have sold our harvest, the price rises. There should be some price stability, so that farmers are assured a fair price,” says Jawandhia. “The government keeps the prices of farm products artificially low. The international market price of wheat is Rs.3,000 a tonne, but in India the farmers get only Rs.1,100. Why can’t farmers benefit from the free market? To keep food cheap, why are they making the food producers poor?”

Ramdas laments: “The Prime Minister’s promise is like that of a magician at a fair who keeps telling us a snake is going to appear from the basket, and we keep waiting and waiting, but it never appears.” The Prime Minister and several other Ministers have come and gone but Vidarbha is still waiting for the magic trick.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Author: Mamta Sen Date: 06 Mar 2008The new Union Budget does not really help the farmers in Vidarbha; they need more than just a loan waiverhttp://www.mid-day.com/web/guest/news/national/article?_EXT_5_articleId=1030092&_EXT_5_groupId=14#BARELY a week after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced Rs 60,000 crore-loan waiver package, five farmers committed suicide in Vidharba.Kishore Tiwari, president of the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti believes that both the State and Central governments are trying to give relief packages and ignore the real issue. According to him, there are 13 lakh farmers spread across the six districts of Vidharbha Amravati, Akolka, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim and Wardha, who need relief and not relief packages.Failed packages"They are in dire need of relief instead of relief packages. Neither the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana nor the National Food Security programme is mentioned in the budget. The Yojana is supposed to provide irrigation to irrigated as well as non-irrigated lands of all farmers," he said. He added that the earlier two packages announced by the State and Centre in 2005 and 2006 had failed to materialise. No money"From the 60,000 farmers identified for the package then only 32,000 were able to get relief, out of which 80 per cent were given cows, bullock carts and pumps instead of the promised money."Tiwari says that there should be introduction of a processing scheme for the cotton from Vidharbha. "Presently, the Chinese economy is booming on the cotton from Yavatmal, which is processed into cloth. Why can't we have similar processing units in the barren lands of Vidharbha?" he asked. Widow Ranjana Chavan though says that more than loan waivers, they want to do away with the cotton crop and opt for jowar or wheat. "We want new seeds and also want to learn new skills, so that we are not dependent on agriculture alone for our survival," she said.Relief tough to availMohan Madedvar, of Pandharkawada village, cites that relief packages hardly reach the family due to lack of infrastructure and corrupt officials. "One has to travel to the nearest city or town in private vehicles to get to the bank to avail the sum. Then they have to bribe the babus, for which the sum is borrowed from private money lenders," he says.Madevar believes that the new package benefits 70 per cent of the farmers from western Maharashtra and only 10 per cent from Vidharbha, as most farmers in the latter region have farm holdings over 5 acres. "It would help tremendously if the loan waiver is applied to over five hectares, as most farmers here own lands that range between 12 to 19 acres," he adds.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Publication: Times Of India Pune; Date:2008 Mar 05; Section:Front Page; Page Number 1Pawar's bastion reaps most from loan waiverRadheshyam Jadhav TNNPune: Even as political parties slug it out over who will get credit for the farmer loan waiver, Sharad Pawar will have the last laugh. His stronghold of western Maharashtra is likely to get more sops compared to other parts of the state. About 1.25 lakh farmers in Pune, 4 lakh in Kolhapur, 65,000 in Satara, 2.5 lakh in Ahmednagar, 1 lakh in Sangli and about 3 lakh farmers in Solapur will benefit from the loan waiver. This is the region from where Pawar's political power flows. In contrast, in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha which saw the maximum number of suicides over the last few years, only 1.5 lakh farmers are likely to benefit. In all, loans of approximately Rs 1,800 crore of farmers in the sugar belt will be waived while Rs 1,500 crore loans in Vidarbha will be cleared. NCP leaders admit that the party will benefit. Western Maharashtra is the stronghold of the NCP and out of party's 71 MLAs in the state assembly, 26 come from this region. Six out of 11 party MPs represent the sugar belt. "Most of the Vidarbha region is rainfed and the farmers here hold more than two hectares of land, which makes them ineligible to benefit for the loan waiver. The land-holdings in Western Maharashtra are by and large smaller, but is irrigated," said Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. He added that if the Vidarbha farmer gets a loan of Rs 4,000-5,000 per acre, his counterpart in the sugar belt can get a loan of upto Rs 1 lakh depending on the cultivation. " Paw a r 's bastion will get maximum benefit, while farmers who are really distressed will continue to suffer. We are not against farmers in the sugar belt being benefited, but distressed farmers should not be left out of the loan waiver," Tiwari said. The NCP is already riding the loan waiver wave. It has organised a series of rallies to celebrate the loan waiver. When TOI tried to contact Arun Gujarathi, the state unit chief of the NCP was busy with the celebration rally in Kolhapur.